Japan: Stop the Slaughter!

For info about our annual Dolphin Protest in Boston at the Japanese consulate, contact us by using the Contact button at the top on this page or email us at: info@massanimalrights.org

Every year more than 20,000 dolphins, whales, and porpoises are killed by Japan. This is the largest deliberate slaughter of dolphins in the world. In Taiji Bay, a picturesque tourist attraction, Japanese fishermen employ "drive fishery" to force dolphins and other sea mammals ashore then hack them to death, slashing their throats and stabbing them with spears and knives repeatedly.

Fishermen go out in boats to known dolphin migratory routes. Positioning their boats strategically, they space out to form a line and wait for the dolphins. When the dolphins arrive, the fishermen drop long metal pipes into the water, and by banging on the pipes they create a wall of sound. The sound interferes with the dolphins' ability to navigate - it disorients and panics them. The dolphins swim away from the sound, and the fisherman maneuver their boats herding them into a small shallow bay. Once in the bay, nets are drawn across the mouth of the bay to keep them penned in. Dolphins will not abandon these wounded family members and so they are trapped and brutally killed.

Even though dolphins are among the world's most intelligent animals, the fishermen view the animals as "pests" who compete for fish.

The Japanese fishermen use threats and violence to keep tourists and others away from the bay, knowing that their fellow citizens and the world-at-large would oppose them. The Japanese government issues permits to allow this massacre. The government and fishermen are so secretive that the majority of Japanese people don't even know the slaughter occurs.

The bay's blue waters literally turn redfrom the bloodshed.

After the massacre, the bodies of the dolphins are taken to a slaughterhouse to be butchered. The meat is severely contaminated with pollutants but is sold without warnings in supermarkets in Japan - supermarkets often owned by US and European chains. Laden with mercury and other toxins, the dolphin meat has even been sold to schools and fed to children. A new slaughterhouse is being planned, so the selling of the polluted meat and this incredible cruelty will not stop unless many people let the Japanese government and people know that the rest of the world finds this massacre unacceptable and immoral. For three years MARC has been working on this issue, and we need your help to stop this senseless killing.

Since 2005, international protests have been held with dozens of groups and thousands of people worldwide sending a message that we oppose the Japanese slaughter. Protests are scheduled everywhere from Slovenia to Seattle and from Manila to Miami. Experts predict that if the people of the world tell the Japanese government to stop issuing permits, the slaughter will end.

Please contact the Japanese consulate to express your opposition to this brutal and unnecessary slaughter: